A Bleeding Heart
by SickleCells
Summary: Sakura was once a sickly homebound child whose only friend was a vampire that she met with in her dreams. Now with the prospect of being healthy enough to leave the confines of her home, she and friend-turned-dream-lover are allowed to meet. Is he a true friend? Does his vampire blood mean he's dangerous to her? What's with his doppelganger? Find out. SasuSaku SaiSaku
1. Promises

**New idea, high school vamp! fic, SasuSaku and SaiSaku**

**Warnings: The characters are slightly out of character. Namely Sakura because she's been sheltered her whole life and away from most of civilization, living on a piece of property with her mother. Only ever having been to a doctor's office and home. She is still intelligent, but it's more about her being book smart, and naive. Sasuke will also be very manipulative in this story. **

* * *

**A Bleeding Heart**

**Chapter One**

**"Promises"**

_"Are vampires real, mommy?" A six year old Sakura asked whilst sitting in her mother's lap, with a stuffed bat in her hands._

_"Of course not." Her mother replied bluntly, tired from hours upon hours occupying her child's short attention span. "Why would you ask that?"_

_Sakura looked up to Mebuki with her large apple green eyes. "'Cause I had a dream with a little boy in it an' he turned into a bat like Maki!" She held up the animal for her mother to see._

_Mebuki's tiredness disappeared in a second, "Sakura, where'd you get this?" She took the bat, examining the ball of fluff with shiny red eyes made of glass. "Did you take it?"_

_"No mommy, the little boy gave it to me." She reached out for the plush. _

_"What little boy, Sakura?" Sakura was home schooled due to her poor health as an infant and toddler. It was unlikely that she'd be able to attend a public school until her teenage years, **if **__she got lucky. And while the child liked to play outside, they lived rather far from any families with young children. _

_"The one from my dream." Her face scrunched up and she pouted. "Mommy, did you listen before?"_

_Mebuki stared at the bat for a long while before taking Sakura off of her lap. She went to place the bat on top of a cupboard. She then returned to her daughter and bent down to be at her level. "Sakura, you have to promise me not to take things, okay?"_

_The little girl was confused but ultimately shook her head. "Okay, I promise."_

_"And you have to promise to not talk to strangers as well."_

_She nodded her head again. "Promise!" However, Sakura didn't understand what was so bad about strangers, especially if they gave her nice things. And then what was so bad about the things as well? Maki was a cute bat. The stranger said that she could keep it until they got to play again, it was nice, Sakura thought anyways. _

_After her mother was away, Sakura spent the rest of her play time staring up at the toy until it was time for her to go to sleep. While she was sleeping, she dreamt of the little boy, longing for his companionship, wondering how long until they'd meet again._

* * *

Sakura's yearning to have her _only_ friend back was strong. She sat under the cupboard everyday, talking to Maki and asking her questions about the little boy who gave her to herself. She soon pieced together that the boy was a vampire. He must have been to have such pretty eyes and such pale skin.

He'd only visited her two more times in her dreams as a young girl. The second time they had played again, laughing and hiding from each other in a vast forest. The third time was different though. It wasn't full of smiles and laughter. The little boy was sad and covered in blood. Sakura thought maybe he'd just gotten done with lunch because if she remembered correctly, that's what she'd just gotten done with before she'd taken her nap. He only shook his little head full of blue hair and cried, falling to his knees in the grass of the forest. He told her as she held his hand that his family was gone forever and Sakura started to cry with him.

From then on he was darker inside and out.

As she approached her teenage years, the vampire visited more frequently and he'd grown up with her, becoming taller and gaining muscle mass. His hair had gotten longer and so had hers, they'd gotten smarter and started to talk about grown up things. In her dreams he began to touch her more, first just little gestures, like a hand on her shoulder as they talked. As time progressed the touches started to linger, she vaguely remembers a time when they were chasing each other and he fell on top of her, but he stayed there, not letting her move. It became a usual thing, him lying with his head on her small chest, her fingers carding through navy hair.

"Ne...Sasuke-Kun?" Sakura would always ask. "When will you see me again?"

"Soon." Forever the same monotone reply.

Until a week ago.

A week ago, Sakura's mother, now in her late forties, came to her daughter a smile on her face, with a large envelope in her hands. "Sakura, dear?" She called.

The girl had just come from outside, out of breath, bent with her hands on her knees before the doorway. At fifteen years old, she'd had horrible stamina. "Yes mother?"

"Come look," She pulled out a paper and presented it to the teen. "Read it aloud for me, will you?"

Sakura nodded and straightened herself before reciting the paper's contents. "This letter hereby allows patient 012601, Haruno Sakura, to venture beyond the confinement of her home and..." Her eyes lit up and she shrieked, "Mother! Mother, mother!" She began to jump up and down before lunging to hug her mom. Pulling away she grinned widely, " I can't believe it! I can't! Kami help me..." Realization hit her, "Mother? Where am I going to attend?"

Mebuki placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Calm down, dear...I've known for a week. I was just weighing the pros and cons of letting you go with your doctor."

A normal teenager would have been mad but Sakura understood with her disease that transitioning from her overly sterile house and her backyard to a place full of toxins and germs, things weren't very safe. "That's fine, just... _where_?"

"Ah, well there is Konoha Academy...Sanin Academy of Sciences, the Fire Academy of Athletics, and Hidden Leaf High."

"Why so many academies?"

"There is no true difference, just different locations really."

"Which is the farthest? I've been stuck home for far too long, I need to escape."

"Don't be so quick to choose now-"

"Mother, which is the farthest? It's not to escape you, its to experience the world. I swear." _No._ It was definitely partly to escape her. She loved her mother so much but she was also someone that Sakura seen everyday if not every hour of everyday. Sakura knew that couldn't have been very healthy for anyone.

"Hidden Leaf High."

"That one, then. I want to go there."

Mebuki nodded solemnly, not speaking out. Her daughter deserved the world and finally she was able to have it. "I'll arrange the paperwork."

* * *

Tomorrow. The word never instilled so much excitement into her. But now tomorrow meant everything. Tomorrow she could be free to do as she pleased. It was all Sakura could dream about. Or so she thought.

_There were no birds chirping as Sakura laid in the field of grass she always laid out on in_ **every **_single dream she'd had. She was dressed in her favorite dress, it was ivory in color, made of gauze material and dotted with nearly transparent cherry blossoms. She smiled to herself as she looked up at the moon. This was the first time that her dream had been set during the night. Sensing a presence she lifted herself to her elbows and gasped as she seen Sasuke sitting before her, "Sasuke- Kun! You came back. Why so soon?" _

_Usually it'd be anywhere from five to forty nights in between his visits. _

_Sasuke nodded in recognition to her before moving to lay down by her side. "I've come back because it's time." He interlaced his fingers with hers._

_"Time? Time for what?" She knew somewhere in the back of her head what he had meant but it seemed too good to be true._

_He turned to face her. "Time for us to meet outside of your dreams, Sakura."_

_She blushed as her name rolled off his tongue. Smiling shyly she squeezed his hand and laid flat on her back again. "Finally." She could have cried from happiness but she figured she'd do that when she was actually seeing him face to face. "Tomorrow? Promise me."_

_Sasuke chuckled darkly and moved to cover her body with his own. "Tomorrow, I promise." He placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Pulling back he ran his free hand through the halo of pink that surrounded the girl. His face suddenly turned wicked and his red irises began to spin._ "**Tomorrow."**

Sakura's dream stopped the second she looked into Sasuke's eyes, she laid in her bed, mind full of only thoughts of her friend, no more images. He'd left to return to his own world.

* * *

The next day Sakura was up bright and early, her mother groggy beside her as they sat in the parking lot of Hidden Leaf High School. They were parked in front of the main building, no one was there yet. It was six thirty in the morning and the school opened its doors to students at six fifty five.

"Mother?" Sakura asked, hands gripped tightly onto the skirt of her dress. "Do you think the other children will like me?"

Mebuki nodded tiredly. "Of course, you're brilliant, remember? The faculty even said so after the tests you had to take to enroll-"

"But mother, I want to know if the other _teenagers_ will like me. I want to know if I'll have as many friends as the girls in the movies. The ones that people flock to."

"Sakura," her mother rubbed her arm reassuringly. "You are the most special person I know. You're special because you were raised differently than everybody else. Never before have you cared what people thought about you and you shouldn't start. The only thing that's important is that _you_ like yourself. I promise that if you do, everyone else will. High school is all about confidence."

Sakura felt her eyes start to water and she grabbed onto her mom tightly, forcing the woman into a hug. "I love you."

Mebuki smiled into Sakura's hair, "I love you too, dear." Looking over her head she seen students start to trickle onto the campus. "I think it's time for you to head in now. Remember," she called out as her daughter began to walk away from the vehicle. "you're supposed to be meeting a student aide in the office!"

Sakura waved her mother and took a deep breath before heading towards the main building. Reaching the doors she inhaled and exhaled a few more times before pulling open the doors. She smiled as she stepped inside, believe it or not besides the doctor's office, she'd never been anywhere but her own property.

"H-Hello?" Sakura turned around to see a girl with dark violet hair and beautiful translucent eyes that was roughly the same height as herself. "A-Are you Haruno S-Sakura?"

"What was that?" Sakura asked, the girl's voice was too soft to understand.

"H-" She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to concentrate. "Haruno Sakura?" It was a little louder.

"Yes, that's me." She smiled at the shy girl. "What's your name?"

The girl blushed. "H-Hyuga Hinata, nice t-to meet you."

Sakura smiled wider, "Nice to meet you too! Are you supposed to be showing me around today?"

"Y-Yes. W-We have the sa-same schedule." She handed Sakura blue sheet of paper. "S-Since you d-don't have supplies y-yet, we can sh-are."

The pink haired girl beamed. "Thank you very much!" She twirled around look with wide eyes for a clock. '_Seven o' five'_ "Should we head to-" She looked at the paper. "Home economics?"_  
_

Sakura's new acquaintance and Sakura herself took their time getting to the home ec room which turned out to be the building furthest away from the main offices. They didn't say anything to the few students they encountered on the way, they didn't say anything at all in fact. Hinata chose to stay quiet while Sakura hummed happily to herself.

Upon reaching the classroom, Sakura held open the door for her guide and followed her inside.

The room was rather large with two columns of tables, five in each. On top of each table was a basket full of yarn and knitting needles.

"S-Sakura- San, this is o-our table." She pointed to a table in the very back of the room, nearest to the windows. "T-Teacher a-allowed me to move s-so we could sit to-gether." She took her spot on a black painted stool.

"Okay, Hinata- Chan." The Hyuga's face went red. "I'm sorry, would you not like for me to address you that way?"

"N-No..I-Its nice." She clasped her hands on the table.

Before Sakura could say anything a bell rung and children fluttered into the room. There were many girls, all long colorful hair and tops. Then there were very few guys, mainly in jeans and plain shirts.

"Hey, Hinata- Chan!" Hinata's head shot up as a boy with spiky blonde hair approached them. "Who's your friend?"

Sakura looked from one side of the girl to the other, also wondering who her friend was.

"H-Her name i-is S-Sakura."

She grinned happily at the realization. _'My second friend! Yay!'_ "Hello!" She stuck out her hand for the boy to shake. "What's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto at your service." He flashed her a toothy grin. "Nice to meet you Sakura." He took her hand and pulled her into a hug. "I'm a little touchy feely, hugs are more my kind of greeting."

Sakura laughed as he deposited her back to her chair. She glanced around aimlessly as she tried to not listen in on the two's conversation.

_"N-Naruto-Kun, w-where are y-your friends?" _

_"Ah, Kiba bastard isn't coming and Lee is in a meeting with Gai-Sensei right now, he should be here in a few."_

_"W-What about S-Sasuke-San?"_

Sakura's ears perked up and she gave up trying to eavesdrop.

"Sasuke-bastard is on his way, you know he takes his sweet time." He made an annoyed face. "Thinks the world revolves around him."

Hinata's lips turned up a little.

"What was that Uzumaki?" A cold voice questioned. The blonde moved away from the table slowly, backing up towards the windows.

"Ah..ha.. Nothing?" he closed his eyes with his sheepish expression. "You know I'd never insult you Sasuke-bast...ah Sasuke..."

"Sasuke-Kun?"

Three pairs of eyes shot to Sakura who sat awestruck, hands gripping the black table top.

"It's really you!" She lunged from her spot wrapped the teenager in her arms. "It's you, it's you. You went through with our promise!"

"Sakura! What are you doing he hates it when people touch him! Shit, move away!" Naruto went to pry the girl off of the Uchiha heir.

"Leave her alone Naruto." The dark haired boy snapped.

"You're okay with this?" Naruto looked disturbed. "How do you two know each other?"

"We're childhood friends."

* * *

**Dun Dun Dun.**

**Uhm, I hope you liked it. C:**

**Review_ if_ you liked it or have any suggestions on where it should go, please and thank you! Also if you have questions.**


	2. First Impressions

**Thanks for the many follows, favorites and thank you to my first reviewers of this story: anonymous, ILoveSxS, and dark shadow400! I appreciate it.**

**Warning(s):****The characters are slightly out of character. Namely Sakura because she's been sheltered her whole life and away from most of civilization, living on a piece of property with her mother. Only ever having been to a doctor's office and home. She is still intelligent, but it's more about her being book smart, and naive. Sasuke will also be very manipulative in this story.**

_**Recap:**_

**_"Sasuke-Kun?"_**

**_Three pairs of eyes shot to Sakura who sat awestruck, hands gripping the black table top._**

**_"It's really you!" She lunged from her spot and wrapped the teenager in her arms. "It's you, it's you. You went through with our promise!"_**

**A Bleeding Heart**

**Chapter Two**

"**First Impressions"**

Naruto kept on staring at the tiny pink haired girl who was clutching onto his best friend's chest, looking up to him like the sun shined out of his ass. He was …puzzled. He scratched the back of his head. "Sasuke-bastard…I thought I was your only friend as a kid?"

"What, are you jealous?" Sasuke replied, eyebrows raised as he gently unhooked Sakura's fingers from his button-up. " I know her from somewhere else."

"Hey! That's not what I meant you bast-"

"Sasuke-Kun?"

"We have class right now." He led her back to her seat. "I'll wait outside afterwards. Then we can talk."

The pink haired girl only nodded and folded her hands in her lap, watching the Uchiha's every move.

"A-Ano…Sakura-San?" Hinata questioned from beside Sakura, having stayed put through the small ordeal. "H-How d-o you know S-Sasuke-San?"

"When I was six..." Her face was enamored and she didn't turn to face the other girl. "I…I met him when I was six, in a forest." _'If mother wouldn't believe me, why would she believe me?'_ "We started to play and he wouldn't come often but eventually he did come more frequently over the years."

"O-okay." '_Weird…Sakura-San acted like she'd never seen him before in her life.'_ She pulled out her notebook as the teacher came into the room but the woman didn't start to write notes as she usually did. Instead she took her perch by the entrance and watched intently through the window. Eventually she came away from it to open the door.

"Class, it seems we have not one but _two_ new students today." Sakura briefly wondered if this was all that could excite her teacher, because she looked blissed out.

'_Two?'_ Hinata thought. _'Sakura- San and who else?'_ She kept her lavender eyes focused on the teacher with the fuzzy hair and glasses.

"Haruno Sakura, please come to the front of the room and join your fellow new classmate, Sai."

Sakura smiled shyly and walked to the front of the room with her head high and came to stand next to a boy with paper white skin and glossy ink strokes for hair.

"Class, these two will be joining our home economics class for the rest of the year. Please treat them kindly, and help them catch up." She stepped away from the two. "Before you return to your seats, please tell the class a little about yourselves."

From the front of the room Sakura took in the appearances of her other classmates more closely, only one other person besides Sasuke caught her gaze. It was a girl with long bleached locks and clear blue eyes. She seemed to light up the room with her scoff and everybody leaned in to pay attention to the newcomers.

"Oh! I am Haruno Sakura, I am fifteen years old and this is my first year in public school." She didn't say anything else and a few hands shot up in the air, one belonging to a kid with a bowl shaped haircut; Rock Lee. "Yes?"

"You're very beautiful, will you go on a date with me?"

Sakura blushed deeply and shook her head, "I don't know you well enough...I'm sorry." _'...Sasuke-kun isn't even saying anything?'_

She looked to the very pretty girl that she had been locking eyes with earlier. "Is your hair really _pink_?"

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because you could have dyed it...Are you dumb?"

"I don't understand..."

"So, you are dumb." The blonde flicked her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder and scoffed once more. "Figures."

"Ino, that's rude. Don't be so negative towards this beautiful blossom! Yosh! Apologize, now!" The eccentric teen shouted, finger pointing dangerously close to touching the tip of Ino's nose.

"Get your finger out of my face Lee, before I rip it off of your hand!" She quickly moved to grab the kid's wrist but he was quicker than she was, doing a back flip to land on top of a desk with two girls sitting at it. They shrieked and pushed themselves away from the table.

"Apologize!" He jumped from the table and ran to a corner as the girl sent a pen flying his way.

"Ah! STOP!" Sakura hollered from the front of the room and all eyes turned to her. She held her stance, hands on her hips. "Sai hasn't said anything yet, stop wasting time on me, and be kind...if not to me then to him." She looked warmly to the black haired boy. "You can start now."

"I am Sai, I am sixteen and I have also been...home schooled until this point in time." he twirled the term 'home schooled' on his tongue, not sure if it was the correct way for him to describe his previous schooling.

No one raised a single hand this time with a question, they were apparently over the drama that the last little questionnaire ended in.

"Okay class, no more monkey business! Get to work on your scarfs and pot holders right this minute." She put hand her hands back on Sakura and Sai's shoulders, respectively. "Now you two," She mumbled. "I was going to have you separated and put with individuals who've been taking this class from the beginning of the year...However, after that little fiasco, I think it'd be best if I give you a different project to get started on. Together." She led them to an empty round table by her desk.

After Sakura and Sai were seated she continued. "Let's start with pillows. A very easy task. Just cut the fabric into whatever shape you want your pillows to be, sew the seems- except for a small section- together and then stuff it. The cotton and fabric are in the back of the room along with the scissors. I'll give you the needles and thread when it's time." She smiled and walked away to watch over the rest of the students.

Sakura shifted in her seat uneasily before going to retrieve the supplies for herself and Sai as he made no move to do anything."I- I didn't know what color you might want so I just...grabbed black."

Sai hummed in agreement so Sakura figured it was fine for him.

"So your name is Sai? What's your family name?"

"I don't have one."

"A last name?"

"No, a family."

"Oh..." She smiled uneasily. "That's fine, everyone comes from a different background." She smiled once more.

"A smile doesn't mean everything is okay and you can't fix or hide things with one."

"Well I-"

"What I said doesn't mean I want to know what you're hiding." He was done cutting his fabric, two perfect squares the size of dinner plates. Raising his hand the teacher hurried over to him and gave them a tiny sewing kit. "You should hurry up, you'd think after being homeschooled, you'd have ..._homely_ skills."

Sakura lowered her thin eyebrows. _'Why is he being so rude? I thought we could bond over being in a new place.'_ "I-I'll get started." It didn't take the pink haired girl very long to construct her pillow, she made it small, something that she could rest her head on in school- because truly, it was seeming like it was going to be very troublesome. Looking to Sai she chuckled, his pillow was overly fluffed, nearly tearing at the seams. But she didn't comment, fearing a rude answer.

"You two are done already?" Sakura's teacher questioned after she returned to their table for the second time. "Magnificent, Sakura! Very good work." She examined Sai's pillow. "Uh, good job as well...You guys can do whatever for the last ten minutes, just don't cause any trouble."

As soon as the teacher left AGAIN, Sasuke slipped over to a seat across from Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun?" She asked, pupils dilating at the sight of him. "I thought we were going to speak after class?"

"We were, but there was a change of plans."

"What would that be?"

"Hn. We'll talk about that later," he changed the purpose of his visit when he saw Sai glancing between himself and Sakura, "I'll wait by the door, remember." He backtracked to his spot next to Naruto who was with Hinata. The violet haired girl was trying her hardest to not hyperventilate as she jumbled up her explanation on how to finish off the bright orange scarf the blonde had done a seemingly decent job on.

Sakura replied with her response five minutes too late, just as the bell rung. She tugged her pillow to her chest as she hurried past the students pushing out into the hallway. A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty room. She blinked rapidly trying to adjust her eyesight to see in the dark.

"Sasuke-kun? Is that you?"

"Hn." _'Why can't you just say 'yes'?'_

_"_Why are we in the dark?"

"Don't you trust me?" She felt a hand on her waist and inhaled deeply at the contact.

"Of course, I just wanted to know why the lights were- Oh." She looked into his glowing red eyes. "I suppose that's better."

He chuckled and she could _feel_ his smirk. "We need to talk."

"Yes, I know. What about?"

"You can't tell anyone about what I am."

"What you are...A vampire? They don't know?" She moved his hand from her waist and held it in hers.

"No, but it's better that way. If they don't know, then they can not interfere with my plans."

"Your plans?" It didn't even strike the teenager that her hundred year old lover might be able to hurt anyone. "What are your plans, Sasuke-kun?"

"You said you trusted me, so let's leave it at that."

She yearned to know what it was that Sasuke was planning but from their previous encounters she knew he didn't like when people pried. "Okay." She let go and felt around for the door handle but before she could open it he drug her further into the darkness, she could feel her back on his chest and his lips on her ear.

"And Sakura," he began, "Whatever you do, don't trust Sai. He's bad news, he'll hurt you." He put a hand on her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes. "Do you understand?"

Her own eyes spun in unison with his. "Sai is bad, he will hurt me."

Kissing her roughly on the cheek he pushed her through the doorway and back into the real world.

* * *

The pretty girl, Ino- she learned her family name was Yamanaka- happened to be in Sakura's second class of the day, Gym. She was very thin, but shapely nonetheless in the tight black shorts and leaf green t shirt. Her light hair was now pulled into a high ponytail and it bounced back and forth over her shoulder as she ran around the track.

"ONE MORE LAP, ONE MORE CHANCE TO INCREASE YOUR YOUTHFULNESS FOR THE DAY!" Gai-Sensei yelled after blowing his whistle and Sakura giggled from her perch on the bleachers.

She also had asthma, and while her other health problems had cleared up for the time being, asthma wasn't something that would disappear so easily. No matter what she told Gai, the man-who was strangely an exact replica of Lee- discouraged her from doing anything too strenuous such as the mile run.

"Gai- Sensei?"

"Yes you youthful little blossom?"

"Do you think I can do tomorrow's activities?"

The man checked his clipboard and nodded enthusiastically. "Tomorrow we have forty five jumping jacks as a warmup then stretching then a fifty yard dash." He scratched the back of his head, "Well, maybe you can sit out during the last part."

Sakura wanted to protest, to tell him that she'd only lose her breath for a little but she didn't, she only nodded and smiled.

Gai blew the whistle a few minutes later, telling the class it was time to change. Not wanting to sit outside by herself, Sakura followed the other girls to the locker room and sat on a bench inside.

"What are you doing in here new girl?" Ino inquired, mouth drawn into a pucker. The other girls in the changing room halted what they were doing to gaze upon the two.

"Ah, I didn't want to sit outside alon-"

"Are you in here to spy on us? I didn't take you for being _gay._"

"Gay?"

"Don't tell me you don't know what that means either."

"I know what it means, and I know what you think it means, and I am not what you think it means!" Sakura protested.

"Oh yeah, prove it!" Ino challenged after drawing her shirt over her head. "Go sneak into the boy's locker room."

"No! That's a bad idea."

"Do it, or I'll start a rumor. Think about it, 'New Girl Haruno is a slut, a lesbian slut'. I think it'll be one of the best yet to hit Leaf. "

"I haven't done anything to deserve your hostility, Ino!" Sakura complained, hands forming fists. She never had the itch to hit someone before but she was beginning to think that's what the burning sensation in her knuckles was- a suggestion to bury her fist into someone's side.

"Look, new girl, I'm not being _hostile_, I'm being normal. It's _normal_ for the new kid to go through some kind of initiation. So just sneak into the boys locker room," She took out her cell phone from her locker, "And take a picture. Then this will all stop. Maybe we can even be friends afterward."

'_Friends?' _Her fists flattened out as she stood. Sakura grabbed onto the phone. "How do I take pictures?" There was some part of her being that needed her to have friends, it was becoming a real inconvenience but nothing was making it go away.

Showing Sakura how to operate the device, Ino snickered as she walked out of the room. "She'll never know what hit her when Gai-Sensei catches her. She'll get detention on her first day! For sneaking into the boy's room _and_ stealing my phone!"

Sakura shivered as she stepped quietly into the boys locker room. It wasn't very hard, she waited maybe a minute or two until Gai had left to take a call on his office phone and she crawled underneath his window, making sure not a part of her body could be seen through the glass.

The pink haired teen cleared her through loudly and blushed as she seen the countless shirtless boys all turn their attention to her at once. "E-Excuse me...Can I take a picture of one of you?" Her face was hot, she could feel her own embarrassment. _'God, why didn't I just take it? Why'd I ask?'_

A boy with dark hair and furrowed brows approached her. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

Sakura backed away from him as much as she could without completely leaving the room. "I-I've been challenged, and if I don't take a picture of you guys, someone is going to spread a horrible rumor about me. I'm sorry, I can't let that happen!" She put her hands in front of her face as she noticed that some of the guys were way more than shirtless.

The guy in front of her groaned and took the phone from her, "Ha, figures. It's just another one of Ino's dumb 'initiations', go back to changing guys." The boy said. He moved Sakura's fingers away from her face and stood behind her before snapping a picture. "There, now go away, will you?" He went back to his locker.

"W-Wait! Who are you?" He was attractive and she was torn between wanting to know for that reason and the reason of telling Ino- had she not known already.

The guy gave her a toothy grin and she noted that his canines protruded a strange amount, "Kiba, Inuzuka Kiba. Tell the pig I said hi."

Sakura nodded dutifully before screeching out a thank you and slipping out to go crawling back underneath Gai's window. But it didn't matter, before she could reach the door the girls filed out of the room, smelling of various fruits and flowers and soaps. Sakura looked around for Ino and ran to her. "Here! Take it, it's done. So don't say anything."

Ino looked appalled and went through her gallery. She turned to a girl with purple hair, "I can't believe it. She actually did it, Ami. Forehead girl...I would have never thought."

_'Forehead girl? That pig! Ah! Kiba was right.'_ "Don't call me that." She said simply. "Do we have a deal, or don't we, pig?"

Ino snorted. "I take it you actually spoke to that mutt." Shaking her head she dropped her phone into her purse. "We have a deal." She draped an arm across Sakura's shoulders. "You know, Forehead, I think you and I CAN be friends. I mean it, and not just as a part of the bet either. You're pretty darn determined and I like that." There was a glint in her eyes that Sakura didn't see. _'I think I break you out of this pathetic little cocoon and mold you into something indestructible.' "_You seem worthy...Why don't you sit at lunch with me?"

Feeling the weight of Ino's arm around her shoulders did something to Sakura that made her agree to it. "Sure I will."

"Like you would have been able to refuse anyways." Ino commented as if it would have been absurd.

* * *

Lunch with Ino wasn't just _lunch with Ino_. Lunch was a small feast with Ino and three others at a picnic table under a large tree outside.

Sitting next to the blonde, Sakura inhaled the fresh air deeply. "It's so delightful outside."

Ino snorted, "Delightful? Um beatiful, sure, humid, definitely." She began to fiddle with her hair until it was twisted into a bun. She took a ribbon from her pocket and tied it into a bow. A cool breeze blew onto her uncovered neck, "Much better."

"Wow, it's so pretty?" Sakura commented.

"What's so pretty, this old thing?" She fingered the blue silk ribbon. "I have another one if you want it."

"Really!?"

"Yeah, it might actually do you some good to stop hiding that forehead of yours." She handed Sakura a cotton candy colored version of her own accessory. "Push your bangs back for me, will you?"

Sakura did as she was told and tensed up as Ino fixed her hair to not touch her face.

"Yamanaka helping someone, what in the world am I seeing?" A voice said, Sakura looked to her left to see a girl with four pigtails on top of her head. She had dark blonde hair and a curvy body.

"Hush Sabaku!" Ino chided after setting her container full of salad on the wooden table. Sakura herself wasn't feeling very peckish so she hadn't brought anything with her to munch on. (She actually hadn't brought anything. At all.)

'_Sand? That can't be her name...'_Sakura thought before introducing herself.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard of you. You're a cute kid."She winked before setting her tray down across from Ino. "I'm Temari."

"Ah, but why does she call you Sabaku?"

"I'm from Suna, I transferred here last year with my brothers." She plopped grape into her mouth. "You ask a lot of questions. Did you ever get out when you were home schooled? I thought that's what it was all about."

"No, I..." She thought about telling them about her sickness. "My mother is very strict, and she wanted to keep an eye on me at all times. I could only ever go in my backyard."

"You never snuck out?" Another girl asked incredulously, coming up from behind the pink haired girl. She had brown hair and brown eyes.

Sakura shook her head. "Never."

"Well who did you think she was going to see if she'd never left?" Ino questioned from beside her. She was picking mindlessly at a small salad. "Her imaginary friend? 'Oh, Shin-san, let's go out and get tipsy. Oh no! The tequila went straight through you, what a waste!'" She cackled at her own joke.

Sakura laughed with her even though she had no idea what 'tipsy' or 'tequila' was. She paid no attention to another person joining them at the table.

"Oh no. Another person to be added to this troublesome mess."

"Quiet Shikamaru! You're the one who is too lazy to find someone else to sit with!" Ino snapped, chucking a carrot at the boy's face, only to miss and have it fly over his shoulder.

"Whatever, Ino." the doe eyed boy turned his attention to Sakura. "So you're the girl everyone and their mothers are talking about, huh?"

"What? Why are people talking about me?" Sakura's eyes lit up, sure, she didn't know why people were talking about her but there was a tiny part of her that got satisfaction from knowing that people knew who she was now, on her first day. "Did I do something wrong?" She read in a book that people liked to talk about ne'er do wells.

"Oh yeah, they're fired up because they saw you closing in on Uchiha."

"Sasuke-kun? Is there something wrong with that?"

Ino grabbed onto her shoulder. "Are you kidding me? He has put a spell on almost every girl at Hidden Leaf!"

Sakura became confused in a split second, _'Why'd he tell me not to tell if they already know?'_

"They all fall to his feet because of his beauty, they're obsessed."

Sakura sighed in relief, understanding what her new friend meant now. "Ano..Why are they obsessed? It's not practical to like someone just because of their looks. I don't think anyways."

The three stopped eating and eyed Sakura suspiciously, Tenten, the girl with the brown hair and eyes let out a huff of air. "You picked a good one Ino, she's smart!"

Sakura bubbled with joy that so many people were starting to like her presence already. If she got this many new friends in one day, imagine how many she'd walk away with when she graduated?

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please be kind and leave a review if you did!**

**xoxo**


	3. Vulnerable

**Thanks for the many follows, favorites and thank you to reviewers of the second chapter: loveisbeautiful, usuratonkachixx, jumpsonclouds96, ifeardolphins, the guest and dark shadow400! I appreciate it.**

**Ifeardolphins: I do intend to be more descriptive later on, the reason I have not been is because I want to focus on the fact that Sakura is absorbed in the thought of Sasuke and only Sasuke at the moment. **

**Warning(s): The characters are slightly out of character. Namely Sakura because she's been sheltered her whole life and away from most of civilization, living on a piece of property with her mother. Only ever having been to a doctor's office and home. She is still intelligent, but it's more about her being book smart, and naive. Sasuke will also be very manipulative in this story.**

**_Recap:_**

_**Ino grabbed onto her shoulder. "Are you kidding me? He has put a spell on almost every girl at Hidden Leaf!"**_

_**Sakura became confused in a split second,**__**'Why'd he tell me not to tell if they already know?'**_

* * *

**A Bleeding Heart**

**Chapter Three**

**"Vulnerable"**

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura chuckled, hands falling to his shoulders as he lifted her into the air. "What are you doing here?" He'd just passed through the window across from her bedroom door.

"I wanted to know how your first day of school was," He put his finger to his lips, "Keep it quiet, I don't want your mother to know that I'm here."

"But I can finally introduce you two-"

"Not now." He moved to sit on the edge of her bed and grabbed her hand to pull her down next to him.

She laid her head on his chest. "Sasuke-kun...why aren't I allowed to tell anyone about us? When I was telling my new friends about my life I wanted so badly to include you in my story but I couldn't..."

"I never said to not speak about me, just to not say what it is that I am."

"It's _so_ hard not to!" Sakura stared deep into his black eyes, he wasn't playing tricks on her this time, she was just mesmerized by the void that they portrayed. She sighed and planted her face into the soft cotton material of his navy polo. "I trust that it's with good reason but it's a part of you and you're a part of me and I can't keep a part of me hidden from people who don't deserve to be lied to."

Sasuke shook his head, her moral compass was definitely straight. He didn't understand why but he liked it better that she was like that, there was more for him to ruin then. "Just _don't._" He kissed her lightly on the forehead to shut her up about the matter. "Now tell me: who all did you befriend today?"

"Ah, well there was Ino-chan, Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan, Temari-chan, Shikamaru-kun and Neji-kun. Oh!" she giggled and blushed, nuzzling her head into his chest. "There's another...Kiba I think his name is."

Sasuke's fingers that were going through Sakura's light pink hair had stopped. "Inuzuka Kiba?"

"I don't even know if that's his first name, why would I know his family-"

"Did he have markings on his face?" Sasuke interrupted, voice getting louder and if Sakura had to think about it- panicked.

"Yes, why, is something wrong?" Her eyes widened in questioning.

"I need you to stay away from him. He's dangerous." He picked back up on moving his fingers, noticing how she leaned into his touch.

"Sasuke-kun...you keep saying that people are dangerous. Are they dangerous to me _or _are they dangerous to_ you_?" '_Does being a vampire really attract that much unwanted attention?'_

"They're dangerous to you and I. They're why we can't be together in front of everyone."

"But _why_?" She understood that she led a sheltered life but she wasn't dumb. People just insisted on hiding things from her and there was something that her beloved Sasuke was leaving out of the picture he was very slowly painting for her viewing pleasure.

"Sakura, you know how I told you about my family? How they were murdered? I never told you the most important fact...It was my brother who killed them."

Sakura stopped breathing for a brief moment and gripped tightly onto Sasuke's shirt.

"The boy, Sai, we look alike, no?"

Sakura blinked rapidly, so many conclusions jumping at her all at once, she spit out the first one, "He's your brother?!"

"No, he is my...copy. We are meant to be one in the same in a sense. We share many traits, mentally, and physically. He's been specially designed to be a replica." Sasuke sat up straight and made the girl do so as well. Looking her in the eyes he continued. "However, the training he received that allowed him to become my doppelganger was never finished, his mentor was killed in battle. It left him emotionally stunted so he's not fully developed and therefore he is dangerous. He is just a ticking time bomb, same as the Inuzuka mutt. Kiba is a creature from my world. We're natural enemies, he being a were and I being a vampire."

The girl choked back the hundreds of questions that were running through her head. Sasuke had never spoken much about his world or the people from it. Even when his family was alive he seldom talked about them, though sometimes he would mention his brother. "Sasuke-kun, I didn't know...I won't talk to them, I swear, I just, I still don't get how they'll harm me."

Sasuke's facial expression hardened. "You already said why they'll harm you. I'm a part of you, you said. That's true. You must not remember it." He smirked.

"Remember what exactly?" _'And here we go again, avoiding the question. I hope there's some useful information in what he's about to tell me.'_

"When you were twelve you got very sick because while you're mother was away you chose to venture into town...

* * *

_Sakura was on all fours as she struggled to reach her home in time. Her medication was sitting on her beside table, she'd been so excited to sneak out that she'd forgotten to take it. She gasped and dug her hands into the soft grass, falling forward she began to inhale shallow breaths, trying to fill her lungs with fresh air and getting nothing but smoke from the factory she'd inadvertently wandered off to. "S-omebody, h-help," She wheezed, "me, help me."_

_The young girl felt as if she was bubbling over from the intense heat, why she picked this one hot summer day to go outside, into the- and she'd agree with her mother on this '**dangerous **__**world'**- she didn't understand. A part of her promised to herself that if she made it back home and didn't die within the hour, she'd never go against the grain again._

_Throat heaving, she propelled herself closer to the ground to spew out the breakfast she'd had this morning. After she was done she grimaced and stopped trying to move. It was useless, she'd timed herself on how long it had taken for her to leave and come back before her mother returned and she had thirty minutes left. The bout of symptoms she was experiencing now had made her travel time scarce. And if her mother came her to find her gone, she was dead. If her mother wasn't mad, and she chose to venture out to find her daughter, she'd still be dead. If someone found her on the road and took her to the hospital- dead. She didn't have a lot of time, she felt it in her rapidly constricting throat, it was her body's way of saying to give up. She hiccuped through her tears and tried one last option. "Sas-uke, Sas-uke-kun, help..." She blacked out._

* * *

"The one time I tried to go out...I can't believe I forgot about that. I didn't know what the smoke stacks were so I tried to find where all of it was coming from. I didn't know what inhaling all of it would do to me. But then I got sick and I couldn't walk..." She gave a somber smile to her afterthought. "I remember calling out for you and you came. You saved me." Tears were welling in her eyes.

"I did so by giving you my blood. A copious amount of it. When one feeds from a vampire, it creates a bond between the vampire and the one who's consumed their blood. There are unimaginable things that my blood can do for people, for _you_ Sakura. That's why your health suddenly improved, why it continues improving. Superficial wounds can heal from just a drop and I gave you at least a pint."

And Sakura appreciates that, she does, Sasuke in a sense gave her life. He had kept her from dying that day. She was grateful beyond words so she grabbed onto his face and placed a serious of chaste kisses onto his lips, repeatedly muttering 'thank you' in between. He only returned the last one with a hand on her neck, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the dip beneath her throat. He then closed his eyes and forced her to stop. "You have to understand something. By giving you my blood, you became _mine._ Mine and only mine and after the things I've done to try and exact revenge on my brother...Sakura there are people that want me dead. Those fools that want me dead will stop at nothing. I've become their Itachi."

Sakura moved back slightly, she didn't like where this was heading. "What did you do?"

"I can't tell you that," He petted her head. She tended to bring out the attentive side of him. "All that's truly important is that there are those who are willing to take everything from me. Sai and Kiba...Sai was made to destroy me, it's the sole purpose of his being. It wasn't a coincidence that he came to school for the first time the same day you did, his mentor made it known that there was a human I'd been interacting with. And I'm sure Kiba's scented you out by now, he can probably smell me on you and vice versa. His family and mine have had problems since before I was created. I know he'll try something with you. I can't help but be cautious."

"I'm vulnerable?" a part of herself, deep inside, had every intention of giving him a piece of her mind. Because how dare he put her in danger like that? But the sensible side of herself went against it.

"Yes. Don't put any thought into it though."

"D-Don't put any thought into it?! Y-You can't just tell me to not put any thought into the fact that I might die because supernatural creatures want to kill me!" The pink haired girl sputtered, almost falling backwards onto her bed.

"Sakura, there was a reason that I wasn't telling you things. But you asked nicely and I complied. Now stop thinking about it," He inched his face closer to hers and right as his eyes started to spin and burn red she pushed him down into her pillows.

"No!" She whispered harshly, though there was no need, her mother would've been asleep giving that it was nearly midnight and her room as far away from Sakura's as possible. "You can't take any of this back, I won't let you. AH!" She shrieked as Sasuke pushed her to lie flat on her back. He had a hand on both of wrists to keep her from hitting him.

"Sakura! I encountered you by chance. I befriended you by choice. I let you feed on me by choice. ANY choice I've made regarding you is because I care. If you die in the line of fire I could never forgive myself. Accept that you're vulnerable, and accept that I'll be trying my damn hardest to keep you alive."

"No!" She kept her eyes shut tightly, knowing that he didn't stop the tomoe from spinning. "If you died trying to protect me I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It would have been pointless for you to have given me your blood...That's a horrible thing to do, to just leave someone, even if it was because you died trying to keep them safe! Imagine how I would feel! It would be like having your blood on my own hands. I know you don't want me dead, and I don't want to be dead either. I'm only sixteen and I've only ever left my home two times from what I can remember and one of those times I almost died and the other I had the time of my life. I want more of those experiences Sasuke-kun. I don't want to be quarantined. I don't want to be coddled or protected either. I want to explore and I want to have the chance to mess up and learn from my mistakes. I want to live because I can't handle just existing any longer."

Sasuke had begun to loosen his grip during her confession, his features softening. He couldn't stop thinking about it. The nagging thought had been in his head the moment he'd encountered the girl. _'What if I turned her?'_

* * *

_"AH!" Sakura shouted, jumping back and away from the little boy who stood in front of her. "W-who are you?" She cowered behind a large tree, head peeking out from behind it._

_"Why are you crying?" Normally Sasuke wouldn't be wandering around such a strange place as Konoha but his father had gotten mad at him and he just warped out of the world he was actually supposed to be in. "Is it because I sneaked up on you?"_

_Sakura hiccuped and shrugged. "Kinda, but I also got a cut on my hand." Sasuke frowned and placed a hand to his face, contemplating something. Within a few minutes he gasped and snapped his fingers. Before the crying girl appeared a stuffed bat._

_"Here, this is Maki, hold her until I get back?" Sasuke didn't leave her time to answer, disappearing and reappearing in just a matter of seconds. Now he was holding a small glass jar in his right hand. He grabbed the girl's hand with his other, twisting the jar open he took a yellow oil and rubbed it onto the scratch. Within an instant it was gone. "All better!"_

_Sakura stared in awe at her little hand, bringing it closer to her face to inspect. "H-how'd you do that?" Her skin went white. "Wait, what was in that? Ah!" She squeezed her eyes shut. "I shoulda asked you!"_

_"Why? The cut's gone, why does it matter?" _

_Little Sakura shook her head frantically. "There are lots of things I can't touch. Mommy told me what they were but I can't say halfa their names! I get sick if I touch those things."_

_"Oh..." Sasuke downcast his eyes. "I don't sick like that, I must be lucky!"_

_"How come?" She was only sniffling now, usually she started to feel weird or hot if she touched something she shouldn't have but now she felt fine so she let it go._

_"I'm a vampire! Vampire's don't get sick!" _

_Sakura's mouth fell open, "Wow, you are lucky! I wish I could be a vampire!"_

* * *

"Sakura-"

"Sasuke-kun-"

They both started. "No, let me talk, Sakura."

"Okay..."

The pale boy inhaled deeply. "I have a way that you would be able to live your life to the fullest. You wouldn't be in the risk of getting sick and you'd be faster, stronger and able to heal in seconds."

"Sasuke- do you mean...?"

He dropped his head close to her neck and trailed his nose along her throat, pressing his lips onto her thundering pulse. "All it takes is a bite and everything would be all right."

The teenager slowly opened her eyes and pulled Sasuke closer. "Is it going to kill me?"

"You humans...You think a beating heart is what makes you alive, I never understood why."

'_So that's a yes,' _Sakura concluded. '_Maybe he's right though. He's never been hindered by the normal things that a human is. I wouldn't have to go the doctor's every month- well I couldn't. I wouldn't have to worry about cuts or bruises, I wouldn't have to worry about anything. And so what if I become cold blooded, who cares? Everything will be tangible, I'll have limitless possibilities.' _"Sasuke-kun?"

"Yes?" He came away from her neck to stare down into her sea foam eyes.

"I want it." she beamed. The hope in her eyes was breathtaking to him, he'd never seen someone so willing to die. "I want the bite."

The vampire's eyes bled red on command, tomoe swirling rapidly. "I need you to look at me. Soon you'll fall asleep, it'll seem like forever but you'll awaken and I will stay with you until you do."

She nodded sleepily the magic of his eyes already taking affect. "As long as you stay with me." When her eyes were shut Sasuke opened his mouth wide and snapped his jaw into place in the crook of her neck. His retinas turned black and the tiny spots evolved into overlapping circles as he fed from her.

This was what he'd been waiting for since his brother slaughtered his family. The power. Had he found out years ago that this girl he happened upon would have the blood he needed to complete the transition, he would have tried to kill her long ago.

Shuddering in pleasure and allowing himself to get lost in the process he pulled down the sleeve of her ironically white shirt to lave at the strangely bitter blood that spilled from the wound. Once her skin was clean he nosed back up her neck and rested his lips over her pulse point. Feeling how slow it was, he apparated out of her room. He wasn't one to wait around while nothing happened.

* * *

**Was that mean?**

**It was a little mean, admit it.**


End file.
